Japan has imposed sanctions directly on individual vessels for the first time, targeting 35 ships linked to Russia’s shadow fleet, maritime trade publication Splash247 reported October 5. The measures took effect October 2 under Japan’s Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Act. Japanese companies now need government permission to provide specified services — including repairs and insurance — to the 35 vessels, and for capital transactions such as loans and debt guarantees connected with their sale, purchase, lease or charter.
The list comprises 31 crude oil or petroleum product tankers totaling 3.33 million deadweight tonnes and four ro-ro or general-cargo ships, with Japan designating permanent IMO numbers so the restrictions follow ships through renaming or reflagging. A limited transition applies to contracts concluded before October 2 only where obligations are completed before November 1.
The shipping measures formed part of a wider package: asset freezes on 33 Russian organisations and nine individuals — including the Garantex cryptocurrency exchange, already sanctioned by the US and EU — and export restrictions against four entities in Turkey and the UAE. It is the first time Tokyo has placed vessels themselves under sanctions, bringing Japan closer to the approach already adopted by Britain and the European Union against ageing tankers moving Russian oil outside mainstream Western shipping, finance and insurance channels.
The move lands as a growing share of sanctioned tonnage shifts onto the Russian register: 107 vessels joined the Russian registry between January 2025 and June 2026, 87 percent already sanctioned when they changed flag, and 72 of those ships subsequently transported an estimated 8.8 billion dollars of Russian fossil fuels, per Clarksons data cited by Splash247. With domestic refineries damaged by Ukrainian strikes pushing unprocessed crude into the export stream, sanctions on the vessels, insurers and service providers that move it are the main remaining lever on those flows.